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“Talking to them?” said Ruby, as if the concept of talking to her folks was alien to her.

“Yeah, you know, telling them some of the stuff you just told me?”

“I don’t know…” said the girl dubiously. “It just might make things worse.”

“Or it could make things better.” Odelia placed a hand on the girl’s arm. “I think your parents have no idea what’s going on, or what they’re doing wrong, and as long as you don’t tell them, they will never know. And you can’t really go on like this now can you? One of these days you’ll find yourself in some real trouble—trouble your mom and dad won’t be able to get you out of.”

“You mean like with this rapper?”

I almost gasped at this, and I could see Odelia was taken aback, too.“You mean… you killed him?” she said immediately.

The girl laughed.“Of course I didn’t kill him. I would never do a stupid thing like that. No, I mean, being a suspect, just because I’ve stolen things before.”

“Yeah, you’re getting quite a reputation, Ruby, and if you’re not careful this thing could haunt you for the rest of your life. It could impact your whole future. The colleges that won’t accept you, the job interviews you don’t get invited for—everything.”

“I know,” said Ruby quietly as she chewed a fingernail. “Don’t think I haven’t thought about that, Miss Poole. Or is it Mrs. Kingsley?”

Odelia smiled.“I haven’t decided yet.”

“It’s just that… I don’t know how to stop.”

“Talk to your parents. Can you do that for me? Just give it a try.”

The girl shrugged.“All right. If you think it’ll make a difference.”

“I’m sure it will. Trust me.”

17

The rest of the day passed by more or less uneventfully, insofar as one can pass a day in a cabin next to which a rapper has recently been murdered and divested of a diamond stuck to his forehead. Lucky for me the idea of implanting diamonds or other jewelry had never occurred to Odelia, or any other member of her family. Then again, what is the world coming to, if rappers can’t even have twenty-million-dollar diamonds inserted into their visage without fearing for their physical integrity? A sad state of affairs, I must say.

And so it was that we enjoyed a peaceful slumber while our humans checked out a town called Kingstown in a country named Saint Vincent, or at least I think that’s what it was called. Frankly speaking I had little interest in the places the Queen of the Seas was visiting on this ten-day voyage. After a while the names of all of those places start to blur together. Especially since I had absolutely no intention of visiting even a single one.

You may call me a cultural barbarian, or a lazybones, but cats are generally not keen on daring feats of architecture erected many years before, or even enjoying a leisurely time at some street caf? or dining at a five-star restaurant to sample the local cuisine. The only cuisine I’m fond of sampling is my usual dose of kibble and my favorite pouch of wet food. So maybe I’m a philistine, but these simple joys of life are what drive me.

Dooley felt exactly the same way, for he hadn’t budged from the couch he’d fallen asleep on the moment Odelia and Chase left for their trip into town, and neither had I.

The sun had risen, and was about to set on a new day when finally there was a commotion in the corridor and the door swung open and Mr. and Mrs. Kingsley walked in. They were both laden with shopping bags, presumably filled with gifts and mementos to be doled out once we returned to Hampton Cove, and both looked happy and relaxed.

“Max,” said Odelia the moment she took a seat on the couch and in doing so rudely awakened Dooley, causing the latter to stretch and yawn. “You really missed something. Kingstown is absolutely gorgeous. The beautiful colors of the houses! The lush botanic gardens! Dark View Falls! The kindness of the people! The taste of the seafood!”

“That’s great,” I said without much enthusiasm. Neither the color of the houses, the kindness of the local populace or even the taste of seafood could have impelled me to spend the whole day traipsing about and getting sore paws. “So what did you buy us?”

“Um…” She gave me a look of slight embarrassment.

“I thought as much,” I said, and replaced my head on my paws for more of that pleasing slumber I’d engaged in while she and Chase wore out their shoe leather.

“I bought a hat,” she said, and placed a large straw specimen on top of me. I gave her a look of irritation which totally missed its mark because the hat obscured me from view. She then picked it up again and placed it on her own head. “What do you think?”

“Suits you,” I said, even though I usually refrain from making any fashion advice. In my experience fashion advice has a tendency to come back and haunt you when some other individual begs to differ and the recipient of my advice turns their ire on me.

“Better get ready, babe,” said Chase. “We don’t want to be late for the show tonight.”

“Show? What show?” I asked, wondering what else I’d missed.